92 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [lL Juny, 1899. 
DEPTH FOR SOWING SEEDS. 
Proressor Vonnny recommends the following as the outside depths at which 
certain seeds should be sown :—For wheat, rye, barley, oats, &c., from 1 inch to 
22 inches; for millets, from 32-inch to 14 inches; for maize, from 1 inch to 2 
inches. If the plants germinate from a greater depth, they are more liable to 
be attacked by fungoid diseases. 
PANICUM COLONUM. 
Mr. H. Firrent, of Eel Creek, Gympie, writing on the subject of Panicum 
colonum mentioned by Mr. H. Tardent, and described by the Government 
Botanist, Mr. F. M. Bailey, in Vol. IV. (p. 364) of the Journal, has kindly 
supplied the following further information about this fodder plant. He says:— 
“7 wish to inform you that I have plenty of the same kind of grass on my farm. 
Tt came first with the lucerne about 5 years ago, and grows very luxuriantly on 
rich sand. I have seen it 4 or 5 feet high. It makes good fodder, coming next 
to Prairie grass in my opinion. I have a small stack of it now, and the cattle 
are very fond of it. It will yield two cuttings—one in March, and a second in 
May. I cut mine in March; but the weather has been very dry ever since, so 
that it is very short this time, but still full of seed. J have about 10 1b. of seed 
on hand. It should be mentioned that the grass will stand any amount of 
water on it.” 
[This confirms Mr. Bailey’s account of the grass. He said, “It would 
require a good and probably damp soil.”—Ed. Q.A.J.] 
HONEY FROM CANE-JUICE. 
Witz it be believed by our beet-men that honey derived from pure cane-juice is 
unsaleable? Yet suchis the statement made in the California Fruttgrower. 
The bees in Cuba (the paradise of beekeepers) have been making honey from 
the burnt cane plantations, which is nothing more than evaporated cane-juice. 
The plantations were burnt, and the canes broken. From the cracks the juice 
exuded and candied in lumps. The rains softened this thickened sap so that 
the bees could secure it, and they filled their hives with it. A certain 
individual secured 700 gallons of this pure cane-honey, and it was so pure, and 
its purity so evident, that he could find no sale for it. The Cuban bees extract 
honey from the bell flower, which is really the most delicious product of the bee 
made anywhere, but the stand-by of the Cuban beekeeper is the royal palm, 
which blooms every day in the year, and almost drips nectar. This the bees 
paune all the year, except for about 90 days during the rainy season, when the 
oney is washed out of the flowers, and the bees must be fed. This honey is 
about the colour of molasses, and not much better to eat. ‘ 
FORESTRY IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 
THERE are nnmerous timber reserves in Western Australia, the areas containing 
both jarrah and karri. These areas cover between 30,000. and 40,000 square 
miles. he jarrah timber predominates. It has been calculated that there are 
60,000,000 loads of timber in these forests of a value of £120,000,000 sterling. 
They are under the supervision of a properly organised Forest Department, at 
the head of which is a Conservator of Forests, whose duty is to protect the 
forests from spoilation. In all workable districts there are forest rangers, 
and great care is exercised in cutting the timber, and no forest lands are allowed 
to be alienated from the Crown. ‘The timber is shipped from the ports of 
Albany, Augusta, Bamelin, Busselton, Bunbury, and Fremantle. 
The timber lands taken up by the settlers under lease from the Government 
total 1,052,426 acres, chiefly in the south-western district. 
Over 300,000 trees were planted in various localities in 1898, and one or 
two sandalwood plantations are progressing satisfactorily in spite of. many 
